The Obama-Biden Depression: Welcome to the "New Normal"

RUSH: I want to take you back to July 23rd of this year. I was on Greta Van Susteren's show On the Record on Fox News Channel, and in light of a headline that's out there today, the AP, Tom Raum, the State-Controlled reporter for AP: "Higher Jobless Rates Could Be the New Normal." That's right. The new norms are all over the place, and they're horrible, and they're rotten, and we have to accept these high jobless rates could be the new normal. This is what I told Greta Van Susteren back on July 23rd.

RUSH ARCHIVE: This is not about health care, it's about control, it's remaking the country, the economy, proof of my point here that the joblessness is on purpose. If your number one signature issue is health care, and his is, and if, which is true that health insurance is not portable when you lose your job, what's the best thing you could do for yourself? Create unemployment. The more people unemployed, the more people losing their health insurance, the more people scared to death, the more people clamoring for it, "Please save my health insurance, please give me health insurance." I'm scared because they've been drummed into the fact that there's something in this country killing them every day from coffee to nicotine to whatever it is, so all of this destruction is taking place, redistribution of wealth. He wants to return the nation's wealth to its rightful owners.

RUSH: And I said that "rightful owners" meaning redistribute from the achievers to the non-achievers. And so here we are today, from the AP, approvingly: "'Higher Jobless Rates Could Be the New Normal' -- Even with an economic revival --" which is not happening and isn't going to happen any time soon. "-- many US jobs lost during the recession may be gone forever and a weak employment market could linger for years. That could add up to a 'new normal' of higher joblessness and lower standards of living for many Americans, some economists are suggesting," and the AP is approvingly reporting this. "The words 'it's different this time' are always suspect. But economists and policy makers say the job-creating dynamics of previous recoveries can't be counted on now. Here's why: The auto and construction industries helped lead the nation out of past recessions. But the carnage among Detroit's automakers and the surplus of new and foreclosed homes and empty commercial properties make it unlikely these two industries will be engines of growth anytime soon."

Well, who owns the auto business? Who's running the US car industry? Who destroyed the US housing industry? Who is running the US banking industry? Barack Hussein Obama, mmm, mmm, hmm. "The auto and construction industries helped lead the nation out of past recessions. But the carnage among Detroit's automakers and the surplus of new and foreclosed homes --" Who's running out of this? The administration of Barack Hussein Obama. Also in this story it is mentioned that there is a new reluctance here to spend money among higher income families. Now, why would that be? Why would higher income families suddenly be reluctant to spend? They're coming after us, that's why. They're coming after us and we are trying to hold onto what we've got for as long as we can before they find a way to take it from us, as Obama seeks to return the nation's wealth to its rightful owners.

You go back to May of 2008 for some historical perspective. Here's some excerpts from an article, from an outraged AP. They're approving of this whole concept, higher jobless rates could be the new normal. In fact, the AP is furthering the Obama administration's line, "Hey get used to it, this is your new country, and most of you are going to be impoverished, lower middle class and out of work depending on us. This is your new country," and AP happily proffers that notion on you. But go back to May of 2008 when guess who was still in office: "Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless reveals strains in the nation's labor market. For the fourth month in a row, the economy lost jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday. But in April the losses totaled 20,000, an improvement from the 81,000 reductions in payrolls logged in March. … The unemployment rate, derived from a different statistical survey than the payroll figures, fell to 5 percent from 5.1 percent in March. That survey showed more people finding employment than those who didn't."

Now, lest we forget, 5% unemployment was considered full employment during the salad days of the Clinton years. Yet in May of 2008, the AP tried to paint it as the harbinger of a second Great Depression and they spent two years trying to convince the American people that we were in the throes of a recession, that it was worse than we had ever seen in the last 50 years, the economy was plunging and it was Bush's fault, and it was the fault of the Iraq war. And unemployment when they were making this point was 5%. Today, it's approaching 10%, and the AP tells us, get used to it, you dupes, get used to it, you schlubs, get used to it, you serfs, because your time is up. Right here I'm holding it in my formerly nicotine-stained fingers, "Higher Jobless Rates Could Be New Normal." Folks, they are telling you it's over. Get used to it. They've accepted it in Europe, we've gotta learn to accept it here. We are Europeanizing ourselves right before our very eyes. They've accepted it there, we've gotta learn to accept it here.

Now, there's interesting juxtaposition of news stories with this AP headline: "Higher Jobless Rates Could Be New Normal." Right under it is this little headline: "Apple Profits Up 47% on iPhone Craze." Now, what positioning, on the one hand, an excuse for Obama, "Oh, jobless rate normal, gotta get used to this." Right below it the results of entrepreneurial nongovernment efforts during a recession! During a recession. Apple shares soar on earnings report. Mac and iPhone sales soar. I wonder if the administration's going to call Steve Jobs and say this is not fair, you're doing too well during this recession. We're going to have to penalize you, this is not right, it's not fair you're doing this well when other people aren't. They're doing increased sales in a recession, the evidence right before our eyes of how to come out of this, right before our eyes. And Apple, even though they're big libs, even though they're big contributors to Obama, Apple, before the day is over, it's got its cult-like fans, "How can this be happening? This is not right."

"Apple Inc. said Monday that record sales of Macintosh computers and iPhones lifted its quarterly profit and revenue, which trounced Wall Street's forecasts. Shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) rose 7% after hours, at one point hitting an all-time trading high of $204. The previous high in regular trading was $202, set nearly two years ago. … IPhone sales climbed 7% to a record 7.4 million in Apple's fiscal fourth quarter. That rate could increase as Apple introduces the iPhone to China later this month. … 'We are thrilled to have sold more Macs and iPhones than in any previous quarter,' Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said in a statement. 'We've got a very strong lineup for the holiday season and some really great new products in the pipeline for 2010.'"

Now, I'm a Mac guy, but I still love these stories not because I'm a Mac guy. Because the story is proof if you make a product that people want, and you make it better than anybody else, you can make a profit even in a recession. And you don't have to lay people off even in a recession. No unions, no Cash for Clunkers, no tax rebate for hybrids, no government intervention, no stimulus, just a good product that means big profits. I won't be surprised if it's somewhere leaked that Obama and the Democrats say this is evil and unfair and try to put a stop to this. This is the old economy on display. Apple Computer, even though they're a high-tech bunch, represents the, quote, unquote, old economy, the American exceptional economy on display, juxtapositioned right against a falling, flailing, failing, embarrassing Obama America and Obama economy. And then to add to it, we finally get the truth out of this administration. Yesterday at a meeting of the Middle Class Task Force, Vice President Biden spoke.

BIDEN: My grandpop used to say -- there was a suburb of Scranton called Minooka. He said, "When the guy in Minooka's out of work, it's an economic slowdown. When your brother-in-law's out of work, it's a recession. When you're out of work, it's a depression," Well, it's a depression -- it's a depression for millions of Americans.

RUSH: All right, so they finally admit the truth, Joe Biden, "It's a depression." Now, he's telling the truth here, but I got a little chart here, ladies and gentlemen, that is just amazing, that shows job creation and job loss since the middle of 2004. The administration's running, wait, we've turned our backs, the recession's over, yeah, the recession's over and we're headed worse, we're into depression. And the vice president of the United States is out there saying so. New York Times headline, October 16th: "By Some Reliable Measures, Recession Is Over." Exactly right. Now we're into depression. Total nonfarm payrolls all employees, US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, number of jobs in the US last five years through September '09, it starts in mid-2004, and it looks like 132 million people working in the middle of 2004. When you go to the peak right at the end of 2007 we are at 138 million Americans working. That's seven million jobs created between the middle of 2004 and the end of 2008. Today, we have lost every job that was created from the summer of 2004 through the end of 2007. We have lost every job in just a year-and-a-half. This is Michigan.

The United States has become Michigan in its trend lines, and the United States is prepared to duplicate what Jennifer Granholm has done: raise taxes again, foist new programs that cannot be paid for, rack up more debt. It can't be because these people don't get it. It can't be because these people don't understand what they're doing. It can't be because they have good intentions. None of those things are true. It is happening because we have people running this country who think it's about time we got ours and live like the rest of the world does because we have been stealing from the rest of the world for our lifestyles and our living standards. It's about time we got cut down to size and get used to it because these unemployment levels, according to the Associated Press, very approvingly, are the new norms.